LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Michigan House Oversight Committee is expected to take up two major topics involving the coronavirus on Thursday morning.
The committee will hold hearings on the state's rollout on the COVID-19 vaccine and discuss the pause of high school winter contact sports.
The hearing comes after committee chair Rep. Steve Johnson and State Rep. Timothy Beson sponsored a resolution urging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel to lift the ban on high school contact sports, which is set to expire on Feb. 21.
Michigan parents, student-athletes, and coaches, angry over the continued delay of high school winter sports, are taking their plea to a judge, hoping to force the return of contact sports.
The advocacy group Let Them Play Michigan and several others have filed a suit against Elizabeth Hertel, the new director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
In a letter to Hertel, attorneys for Let Them Play Michigan and several others, including high school athletes, urge her to issue a new emergency health order allowing for the immediate return of winter contact sports practices and games.
The group claims that, among other things, the current health order is "arbitrary and unconstitutional."
"Unfortunately, this morning we had to take action we would have preferred not to take," attorney Peter Rudell said on Wednesday. "We filed a lawsuit against MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel in her official capacity."
